5 arrested in anti-abortion protest in West Bloomfield

Five anti-abortion activists were arrested Saturday, Dec. 2, when they refused to leave an abortion clinic in West Bloomfield Township.

Curt Lawson, deputy chief of the West Bloomfield Police Department, said clinic employees at the Michigan Women’s Center on Orchard Lake Road called for help when the activists refused to leave.

Officers told the activists they would be arrested if they didn’t leave the clinic. They then sat on the floor in an act of civil disobedience, requiring officers to carry them out, Lawson said.

The activists were ticketed for trespassing and interfering with a police officer, both misdemeanors, and have a Dec. 20 appearance in 48th District Court in West Bloomfield.

Monica Migliorino Miller, founder of Citizens for a Pro-Life Soceity, said the group’s aim is to talk to women seeking abortions about other options. She said the five activists did have a chance to speak to several women in the waiting room and present them with roses that had cards attached, telling women where they can seek help with an unplanned pregnancy rather than aborting.

“God is love and he loves you and your unborn baby. Don’t be afraid. Your life circumstances will change and this baby will give you boundless joy… There is help for you and your baby,” the cards said.

She characterized the demonstration as peaceful, saying there was no shouting or angry words exchanged between the activists, the clinic employees or its patients.

She said before police arrived, clinic employees escorted women in the waiting room into other areas of the clinic so they did not have to interact with the anti-abortion activists.

Clinic officials were not available for comment.

The demonstration was part of a national effort called the Red Rose Rescue, she said. Demonstrations took place simultaneously in several U.S. cities. After they were taken to the West Bloomfield police station, each of the five activists posted a $200 bond to be released. Miller said they expected to be arrested for their actions and were not deterred by that possibility. They plan to plead not guilty to the charges against them.

In addition to having an opportunity to speak to women considering abortion, she said the protest had another purpose.

“We wanted to show solidarity with a class of people that nobody wants, the unborn,” she said.

She said the group held a similar protest and several were arrested at the Northland Family Planning Center in Sterling Heights in September. Those arrested included two Catholic priests.

Lawson said there have been other protests on public sidewalks in front of the West Bloomfield clinic but this was the first on clinic property.